{"id":4092,"date":"2010-11-29T13:48:50","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T19:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?p=4092"},"modified":"2022-02-07T14:01:24","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T19:01:24","slug":"managing-the-mba-interview-your-interviewer-actually-wants-to-know-about-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/managing-the-mba-interview-your-interviewer-actually-wants-to-know-about-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing the MBA Interview: Your Interviewer Actually Wants to Know About You!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>With the release of first-round interview invitations and the  subsequent increase in pressure on MBA candidates, we present a  five-part series with our friends at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vault.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vault<\/a> to help applicants decompress and thoughtfully manage the MBA interview  process. In this first entry on business school interviews, mbaMission  founder Jeremy Shinewald debunks the myth that you will be asked oddball  or intentionally perplexing questions, and encourages you to take a  step back and think about your story.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat if I don\u2019t know the answer to a question that I am asked?\u201d<strong> <\/strong>This  is probably the number one anxiety among business school interviewees.  However, this anxiety is an unnecessary one, because your interviewer  will always be asking you questions about a topic you actually know very  well\u2014you!\u2014not questions that require applied knowledge or research. So,  in an MBA interview, you will not need to know how to calculate a  discounted cash flow or express your opinion about the U.S. interest  rate policy. Instead, you will need to be able to reflect on and discuss  your life experience, why you want an MBA, the value you can add to  your target program and your need to attend the specific school at which  you are interviewing.<\/p>\n<p>When mbaMission spoke with Bruce DelMonico, director of admissions at  the Yale School of Management, he was clear that interviewers are not  asked to create a \u201cstress interview\u201d for the candidates, explaining that  Yale\u2019s interview is instead a \u201cfairly standard behavioral interview.\u201d  He added, \u201cThe purpose is not to trick you or throw curveballs, but  really get a sense of the applicant.\u201d\u00a0 Echoing these sentiments, Dawna  Clarke, director of admissions at Dartmouth\u2019s Tuck School of Business,  told mbaMission, \u201cWe have interviews that are conducted by our staff as  well as alumni and current students, and typically, when someone comes  in for an interview, a few minutes are spent just making the person feel  at ease. We try to ease people into it. They\u2019re definitely not intended  to put someone on a hot seat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As you prepare for your interview, you should review your entire  application in-depth, paying particular attention to the stories you  presented in your essays. Further, be sure to reexamine your reasons for  targeting the specific schools you have chosen and get comfortable  speaking about your short- and long-term goals and ambitions. In  addition, you might take some time to the think about inflection points  in your life and how and why you made the particular choices you did at  these important times. Finally, consider instances in your life when you  have performed as an individual or a team player.<\/p>\n<p>In short, your goal in preparing for your interview should be to have  anecdotes that highlight important aspects of your personality,  capabilities and experience top of mind and be ready to engage in a  thoughtful conversation with someone who is there to listen to and learn  about you. We could not sum up our feelings on the interview process  any better than did J.J. Cutler, deputy vice dean of MBA admissions,  financial aid, and career management at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s  Wharton School, who suggested that students relax and even enjoy the  process. Cutler told mbaMission, \u201cThe whole process [comes from] a  positive perspective. We\u2019re not looking for reasons to deny someone;  we\u2019re looking for reasons to admit someone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the release of first-round interview invitations and the subsequent increase in pressure on MBA candidates, we present a five-part series with our friends at Vault to help applicants decompress and thoughtfully manage the MBA interview process. In this first entry on business school interviews, mbaMission founder Jeremy Shinewald debunks the myth that you will &hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/managing-the-mba-interview-your-interviewer-actually-wants-to-know-about-you\/\">Read&nbsp;More&nbsp;&nbsp;<i class=\"fal fa-sm fa-angle-right\"><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba-interviews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Managing the MBA Interview: Your Interviewer Actually Wants to Know About You! | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/managing-the-mba-interview-your-interviewer-actually-wants-to-know-about-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Managing the MBA Interview: Your Interviewer Actually Wants to Know About You! | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the release of first-round interview invitations and the subsequent increase in pressure on MBA candidates, we present a five-part series with our friends at Vault to help applicants decompress and thoughtfully manage the MBA interview process. In this first entry on business school interviews, mbaMission founder Jeremy Shinewald debunks the myth that you will &hellip; Read&nbsp;More&nbsp;&nbsp;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/managing-the-mba-interview-your-interviewer-actually-wants-to-know-about-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-29T19:48:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-07T19:01:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-fallback-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Shinewald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Shinewald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Managing the MBA Interview: Your Interviewer Actually Wants to Know About You! | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/managing-the-mba-interview-your-interviewer-actually-wants-to-know-about-you\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Managing the MBA Interview: Your Interviewer Actually Wants to Know About You! | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","og_description":"With the release of first-round interview invitations and the subsequent increase in pressure on MBA candidates, we present a five-part series with our friends at Vault to help applicants decompress and thoughtfully manage the MBA interview process. 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